


I made a map of your stars, then I had a revelation: you're as beautiful as endless, you're the universe I'm helpless in

by poplarstreet



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-10-18 13:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20639843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poplarstreet/pseuds/poplarstreet
Summary: “Do you want a high five?” Cady has read online that teens in America love high fives, and she figures it may help.But she’s gotten it wrong again, judging by the look on the girl’s face. She’s about to apologize when the girl smiles. It makes her whole face light up, and Cady feels her own face get hot.“Sure,” says the girl, raising her hand up. The smile is still there, and something in Cady wants to do everything she can to keep it there.





	I made a map of your stars, then I had a revelation: you're as beautiful as endless, you're the universe I'm helpless in

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys!
> 
> feel free to leave kudos/comments below, feedback is always welcome :)
> 
> song title is from 'venus' by sleeping at last
> 
> tw: lesphobic slur

It was no secret that Cady Heron lacked social skills. 

At least, not to everyone around her. 

It was only because of her practice with observation that she was ever able to tell if something had been off, but it was always more of an afterthought rather than the intuition everyone else seemed to have. 

Cady always said the wrong thing, always acted too bland or too bright, too much of a wall or a never-ending chatterbox. 

She decides she’s just going to stick this whole high school thing out head down, friends being pointless as she was going to go back to Kenya in the last few summers before returning forever.

So when she hears crying in the bathroom stalls on her first day on Northshore, she’s a bit floored.

_Shit, shit, shit. What on earth was she supposed to do?_ She racked her brain desperately, trying to remember if anything she had read about behaving normally could apply here. 

The muffled crying continues, the sound of the girl’s cries triggering Cady’s need to comfort the person making it. 

So she acts. 

Stepping forward, she knocks on the door. The crying immediately stops, and Cady knows she’s probably already messed up somehow. 

Oh well, might as well throw herself a little further down the line. “Can I come in?”

As soon as the words leave her mouth there’s a crushing sense of _you aren’t supposed to do that Cady, it’s weird._

Her hope rises a little when the door clicks and swings open, only to drop when the girl storms out, a furious look in her gaze. 

Cady feels rooted to the spot, a prey frozen before the predator. The girl towers over Cady, her red-rimmed eyes not deterring from her overall imitation. 

“Who put you up to this?” She snarls. 

Cady feels calm, for once. This is something she knows how to deal with. Outright hostility is very much preferable over whispers and rumors and unspoken rules she always breaks. 

The girl’s lip curls at the beats of silence, but Cady responds quick. “No one.”

Confusion washes over her face before a wall goes up and the anger is back. “Don’t play dumb.” 

As she says it, she steps closer to Cady, and Cady feels her traitorous heart speed up. 

(After all, she is very pretty, and Cady isn’t blind.)

“You were crying.” Cady settles, making sure to keep her voice steady. 

She’s a bit proud of herself- she managed not to betray either the bi panic or the SocialSituation panic that was currently blasting through her. Still, she sets her mind running in frantic circles as she thinks back to the dozens of articles she had read on what teenagers are like. 

“Do you want a high five?” Cady has read online that teens in America love high fives, and she figures it may help. 

But she’s gotten it wrong again, judging by the look on the girl’s face. She’s about to apologize when the girl smiles. It makes her whole face light up, and Cady feels her own face get hot. 

“Sure,” says the girl, raising her hand up. The smile is still there, and something in Cady wants to do everything she can to keep it there. 

She’s a bit over enthusiastic as she slaps their hands together, but the girl doesn’t seem to mind. 

“I guess you’re new or something?” The girl asks. There’s still a trace of wariness around her, so Cady tries her best to appear non threatening. 

“Yeah, what gave it away?” The girl’s smile turns a bit melancholy, and Cady’s heart twists. 

“If you want friends, you might want to stop talking to me.” 

“Why?” 

“You’ll see soon enough,” the girl says, guard up once more. “Word of advice- Regina George is a raging life-ruining monster. I’d stay away.” 

The girl turns to go, and Cady reacts without thinking as she gently grasps the girl’s arm.

“I do want friends.” She shrugs. “Do you have any open availability?”

Smile back in full force, the girl tilts her head a bit. While Cady knows it’s because she’s probably said something weird and socially put her foot back in her mouth, it’s super cute and she feels her face flame once more. 

“You sure you okay with committing social suicide?” 

Cady scrambles for something to say before deciding to make another joke. “You sure you want to be friends with a weirdo from Africa?”

The girl’s eyes light up. “You’re from Africa? That’s so cool!” 

Cady smiles, not even thinking about coming off as too eager like she had worried about before. Even though she had been excited to move to America, Kenya had been her home all of her life. 

“Yeah, my parents were zoologists so I’ve lived in Kenya my entire life for their research. If you can tell by my lack of social graces, blame the lions.” 

A bell rings, loud and jarring. The girl starts to head out, Cady trailing behind her. “I’m Janis, by the way. What homeroom do you have?”

“I have Room 102 for homeroom.” As almost an afterthought, she said “And I’m Cady.”

“I have that homeroom too, I’ll show you where to go.” They head to homeroom together, Janis asking her again to tell her about Kenya as they pick seats.

When the teacher introduces her to the class she says Cady’s name wrong, but she’s talking so fast that Cady doesn’t bother to correct her. When she retakes her seat next to Janis, however, she’s met with a quirked eyebrow.

“I thought your name was Katie?” Janis whispers, leaning so close that her long necklaces brush against Cady’s desk.

“Yeah, it is, but it’s spelled C-A-D-Y, so people can get confused pretty easily.”

Janis smirks, falling back into her seat with ease. “I’m gonna call you Caddy.”

Cady shrugs. “That’s your prerogative.”

Janis laughs, the sound surprisingly loud. The teacher shushes her, Janis giving her a two fingered salute in response. 

Cady feels her toes curl in her shoes, knowing that she’s once again said something out of place. They sit in silence for a few minutes, until Janis decides the coast is clear.

She leans back over to Cady’s desk, her voice a bit softer than before. “I love those lions,” she jokes. 

It’s nice, and Cady feels less tense at the casual teasing that’s already seemed to develop. After the last of the announcements in homeroom, they check schedules and see that they have five of their eight classes together. 

As it turns out they both have chemistry next. Cady is practically bouncing down the hall as Janis leads the way, when out of nowhere, a balled up piece of paper soars past and narrowly misses Janis’s head. 

Shocked, Cady whirls around to find the source. She can’t pinpoint the exact culprit, but then she hears it.

“Space dyke!” It’s coming from a blonde kid, his face twisted in a sneer. Cady immediately turns to Janis, her face crumpled like the sheet of paper. It’s clear she is trying to stop from crying, and Cady feels a surge of overprotectiveness.

_Don’t start something,_ she chants in her head, grasping Janis’s arm once more to lead her away. Cady isn’t even sure what ‘dyke’ means, making a mental note to look it up later.

“Oh, look, Sarkisian already sunk her lesbian claws into a new victim! Run for cover!” 

Everyone starts laughing, loud and incessant and suddenly the hallway feels too small. Her brain is running on a loop, she has to get Janis away. 

The anger is still bubbling at the surface, but she caps it and rushes out of the crowded hall. Janis is clinging to her now, and Cady knows she can’t let her down. She’s not sure where she’s going, but she keeps on until they’re in an empty hallway. 

Suddenly, Janis breaks away. Her knees hit the ground, hard, and Cady feels helpless. She’s not sure if Janis will be okay with Cady touching her, so she carefully sinks down to her knees and joins her, close but not touching. 

The sound of footsteps start to echo afresh in the hall, and Cady whirls around. She’s expecting to see the blonde kid or another jeering face that’s just waiting for her fist. They fade away, and Cady turns her attention back to Janis. 

She’s stopped crying- or at least, the audible crying. Her whole body is shaking, and suddenly Cady can’t hold back anymore as she lays a gentle hand across Janis’s back. 

She moves her hand in smooth, calming motions, like she used to do with the animals on the reserve. Soft, slow, and calculated- no jerky moves or inconsistent strokes, just steady movement. 

Janis doesn’t seem to mind, instead she leans into Cady’s touch. Raising her head, she gives a watery smile. 

“Sorry about all this,” she says, gesturing to herself. “I’m usually more put together.” Like a jolt, something seems to slams into Janis’s mind. 

“Oh my god, you’re gonna be late to Chem, we have to-” as she makes the move to stand up, Cady lightly presses her hand down, shushing her gently. Janis gives in, easily sitting up to stare at the tiles. 

“Let’s just stay here for a minute. If you want to talk, you can. I’m here for you either way.” Cady says softly, glad she had ended up reading the article the night before on how to help people going through a difficult time. 

The words seemed to help. They sat in silence for a few beats, and then Janis clears her throat. 

“It was the beginning of eighth grade. This girl- Regina George- had been friends with me since elementary school. And then, for whatever reason, she decided to uninvite me from her stupid birthday party.” Janis laughs bitterly, the sound striking Cady. 

“When I asked why, she told me it was because she, she.” Janis goes quiet for a few beats, and Cady does too.

“She said she was afraid I was a lesbian and _of course_ she couldn’t have a lesbian at a pool party. She asked me, “What even are you?”

Janis shrugs, the motion screaming defeat. “I was in eighth grade, and I was hurt, so I yelled in her face that I was a space alien with four butts. The next day, she had written ‘space dyke’ on my locker. People signed a petition to get me banned from the bathrooms because I was a lesbian, and they said they were afraid that I would grope them or something.”

The question burns on Cady’s tongue, but she doesn’t dare say it. “So my parents pulled me out and homeschooled me the rest of eighth grade and part of freshman year. I had hoped that by now it would be blown over.”

“The worst part is, I actually, you know, had some suspicions before. Wasn’t sure though, and then this all happened and I don’t even know how Regina knew before I did. That’s her job, though. A life-fucker-upper.”

Words, advice, anything she can think of to say falls short. Instead, she launches forward and hugs Janis, tight. Janis starts to pull away after a few seconds, and Cady lets her go. 

On instinct Cady brings her hands up, sleeves pulled up over her fingers, and dries Janis’s tears with ease. Cady gives her a soft smile when she pulls her hands away, and Janis matches it. 

“We should probably head to Chem,” Janis says, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Hopping up with ease, Cady extends her hand to Janis. She takes it, and Cady pulls her up with ease. Janis lets up a small, startled yelp, which breaks into small giggles. 

“Wow, you are very strong,” Janis remarks, shooting her a small grin.

Cady feels her traitorous knees go a little weak at the sound. 

As they walk to class, Janis still seems uneasy. Cady wishes she knew how to help her, but the only thing she can do is stay by her side. 

“Sorry,” Janis mutters, the sound somehow quiet in the empty corridors. Her eyes are focused on the empty space ahead.

“Don’t apologize,” Cady says immediately. Shrugging her shoulders, she gives Janis a smile that she hopes gets her words across. “I’m a good listener.”

Janis finally looks away from the hallway and matches her smile, albeit a bit smaller than Cady’s. “My friend Damien is usually here, his presence sometimes helps stop people from being dicks.”

Jansi laughs, soft and fond. “Damien is too gay to function, he’s amazing.”

Cady’s not sure how to respond. Nothing comes to mind. Luckily, Janis gestures to a room a few steps away.

"Here we go," Janis says, swinging her arm out a bit dramatically in a wide gesture.

_Here we go, indeed,_ Cady thinks absently, taking her first step inside.__


End file.
